Dad indicted in Staten Island crash that nearly cost his daughter her leg

The scene left after an alleged drunk driver crashed into a guard rail at the Outerbridge Crossing's park-and-ride with his two young children in the car.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A New Jersey man who police say caused a Staten Island wreck that nearly cost his 9-year-old daughter her leg has been indicted on vehicular assault and other charges.

According to authorities, Vadim Shapiro had a blood alcohol content of .10 percent, as well as marijuana, methadone and traces of cocaine in his system after he flipped his 2010 Toyota Tundra by the park-and-ride at the end of the West Shore Expressway on Nov. 19.

Shapiro, 45, who lives in Belle Mead, N.J., was headed home from his 13-year-old son's bar mitzvah, with both the boy and his 9-year-old daughter as passengers.

The young girl needed to be placed into a medically induced coma after the crash -- she suffered compound leg fractures, though doctors were able to save her leg from amputation, a law enforcement source told the Advance.

An initial breath test showed Shapiro's blood alcohol content at .146, but according to the indictment against him, a formal blood test taken later measured it at .10 percent. The legal threshold for driving while intoxicated is .08 percent.

Shapiro was driving toward the Outerbridge Crossing about 5:45 p.m., when he missed the exit for the bridge, and continued straight toward the nearby Pleasant Plains park-and-ride, according to authorities. His 2010 Toyota Tundra crashed into a guardrail, flipped over, and landed on its roof.

"I was driving, I had an accident, get an ambulance for my daughter," Shapiro told police at the scene, according to court papers filed shortly after the crash.

Yesterday, the state Supreme Court unsealed a 14-count indictment against Shapiro, said Peter N. Spencer, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

The charges included multiple counts of first-degree vehicular assault, child endangerment and aggravated driving while intoxicated -- under a statute that's referred to as Leandra's Law, which makes it an automatic felony on the first offense to drive drunk with a person 15 or younger in the vehicle.

Shapiro was arraigned in state Supreme Court in St. George yesterday, where he pleaded not guilty. His $35,000 bond was continued until his next court date on July 19.

His lawyer, Arthur Gershfeld, said he disputes the prosecution's allegations. He noted that he's exploring evidence that Shapiro did not have the alcohol and drugs in the system that prosecutors say were present.

"There might be a potential problem with the lab," Gershfeld said. He wouldn't discuss the particular facts of the crash.